Board approves HVAC control upgrade, secure-entrance designs and lighting design bids for bond projects

The Lewis Central Comm School District Board of Education on Feb. 3 approved several design and procurement steps tied to ongoing bond-funded facilities work, including a $128,000 bid for districtwide HVAC controls, design fees for secure entrances at the high school and Kreft, and electrical design for parking-lot and tennis-court lighting.

The votes move the district from planning into procurement for multiple projects outlined by facilities staff: completing an updated centralized HVAC monitoring and control platform, designing a front-entrance addition and interior reconfiguration at the high school and a secure lobby at Kreft Primary, and designing upgraded parking-lot and tennis-court electrical and lighting systems.

District officials said the projects aim to reduce operating cost, improve building security and support upcoming roofing, paving and mechanical work scheduled for spring and summer contracts. Mr. Wallace, facilities staff, told the board the high-school HVAC project has equipment arriving in late May and that the air-handler delivery is several weeks behind the chiller. A vendor demonstration shown at the meeting described a Niagara-based supervisor front end that will centralize schedules, alarms, trending and maintenance data for all buildings.

Board members approving the measures said the designs and systems are necessary next steps so construction and bid solicitations can proceed in early spring. The board’s action included approval of the Optimized Systems controls contract for $128,000; design fees with BCDM for secure entrances at Kreft and the high school; and Alvine Engineering design work for parking-lot lighting and tennis-court electrical infrastructure.

During the presentation, the facilities vendor demonstrated features the district cited as operational benefits: real-time temperature and alarm dashboards, mobile alarm escalation (email/text) and a building library for equipment data and maintenance instructions. Facilities staff said those tools will be useful for responding to off-hours alarms and to better target maintenance work.

Board members asked several scheduling and sequencing questions: how the exterior addition, sidewalk and paving work would coordinate so new concrete is not removed later; whether the high-school office reconfiguration could be staged to avoid disrupting operations; and whether tennis-court lighting should be sized for competition levels. Staff said the design proposals include options and alternates and that they expect to have design documents ready for bidding in the spring, with the exterior high-school addition scheduled to be built first to reduce disruption.

Votes at a glance

- Optimized Systems (HVAC controls): approved; motion to approve the bid for HVAC controls from Optimized Systems for $128,000 passed by recorded roll call votes. - BCDM (secure-entrance design for High School and Kreft): approved; design fees totaling $146,250 approved to develop secure-entrance plans and related civil/structural/mechanical/electrical design work. - Alvine Engineering (parking-lot light design): approved; $12,500 for electrical design to support new LED lighting and conduit for future camera wiring. - Alvine Engineering (tennis-court electrical design): approved; $10,000 to design safety and convenience lighting, conduit for equipment and wiring for possible future competition upgrades.

What the votes do and do not do

The board’s approvals authorize design work and equipment/control purchases; they do not authorize full construction contracts or expenditures beyond the amounts approved. Facilities staff said design documents will be used to solicit construction bids later this spring and summer. The board also approved using alternates only as described in the design documents; larger scope items such as full internal office reconfiguration or competition-grade stadium lighting were presented as alternates and not approved as part of the base design work.

Background and next steps

Facilities staff said the high-school chiller is expected in late May, with air-handler delivery two to three weeks later, and that several roof and paving projects will be bid in March. Design work for secure entrances and site electrical is expected to be completed in time to advertise construction bids in early summer, with exterior high-school construction targeted for fall 2025 and interior renovations staged for summer work so the school is operational for the 2026–27 school year.

Board members also asked staff to ensure coordination between paving and exterior-entry construction so new pavement is not poured and then removed. Staff said they will add conduit sleeves during parking-lot work where practical to reduce later disruption and will include those provisions in the design documents.